# You learn something new everyday! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 5, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151 "2012-06-05T13:21:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/1 "2012-06-05T13:21:29Z")
Teacher: What is the capital of the United States? Fellow 3rd grader: The District of Columbia. Me: Nuh-uh! Washington, D.C. is the capital! Fellow 3rd grader: enomaj, what do you think D.C. stands for? Me: Oh. Post yours. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/2 "2012-06-05T16:38:20Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Teacher: What is the capital of the United States? > Fellow 3rd grader: The District of Columbia. > Me: Nuh-uh! Washington, D.C. is the capital! > Fellow 3rd grader: enomaj, what do you think D.C. stands for? > Me: Oh. > > Post yours. Are you saying that you did not not know that Washington, the city, is in the District of Columbia, or are you under the erroneous impression that “Fellow 3rd grader” is correct in thinking that the District rather than the city is the capital? Of course, when you are a 3rd grader, you really ought to be learning several new things every day. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/3 "2012-06-05T18:16:57Z")
If we’re doing childhood epiphanies… Me: Mom, why don’t the birds here fly south for the winter? Mom: We ARE the south. Me: Oh. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/4 "2012-06-05T18:20:12Z")
It was a great epiphany to me to learn that my grandma was not just my grandma, but also mom’s mom. Really, mom has a mom? And that person also just so happens to be grandma? What a country! ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/5 "2012-06-05T19:12:43Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Are you saying that you did not not know that Washington, the city, is in the District of Columbia, or are you under the erroneous impression that “Fellow 3rd grader” is correct in thinking that the District rather than the city is the capital? > > Of course, when you are a 3rd grader, you really ought to be learning several new things every day. Actually, the city is formally called just “District of Columbia”. Washington, D.C. is just a nickname for the city of “District of Columbia”. The whole place, land and government both, is called “District of Columbia”. This has been the case since 1871. Prior to that, there was indeed a city of Washington inside the federal district of Columbia. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/6 "2012-06-05T19:33:31Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Of course, when you are a 3rd grader, you really ought to be learning several new things every day. Also, if he’s a third grader, he shouldn’t be posting on here. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/7 "2012-06-05T20:22:34Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Are you saying that you did not not know that Washington, the city, is in the District of Columbia, or are you under the erroneous impression that “Fellow 3rd grader” is correct in thinking that the District rather than the city is the capital? > > Of course, when you are a 3rd grader, you really ought to be learning several new things every day. The second. > [@Kimballkid](#): > > Also, if he’s a third grader, he shouldn’t be posting on here. No longer a third grader. ---
**Author:** ![Sacrilegium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@Sacrilegium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sacrilegium)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/8 "2012-06-06T01:05:09Z")
_Everyday_ means “ordinary.” _Every day_ (two words) means it happens every day. It took me way too long to realize The Beatles is a pun. ---
**Author:** ![prettydorky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f04885/32.png) [@prettydorky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prettydorky)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/9 "2012-06-06T06:06:08Z")
> [@Sacrilegium](#): > > It took me way too long to realize The Beatles is a pun. ohhh mannnn :smack: Thank you, Sacrilegium. I have learned something new today! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-learn-something-new-everyday/624151/10 "2012-06-06T06:50:45Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > It was a great epiphany to me to learn that my grandma was not just my grandma, but also mom’s mom. Really, mom has a mom? And that person also just so happens to be grandma? What a country! The Nephew had to go, not only through figuring that “Mom” was also “Judi” and “Jude” and “Yaya Blaise’s daughter” and “Uncle Iggy’s Sis”, but he simultaneously and due to Iggy’s breakup from an LTR, he spent a lot of time rehearsing which relatives were there to stay… (no, kid, I’m not going anywhere - well, I am, but I’m not going to vamoose with no forwarding address) My Grandma used to say “the old woman didn’t want to die, because every day she learned something new!” For the last three years she hadn’t said it. We’d thought she had dementia, but it turns out to have been depression, which has recently lifted. Two weeks ago we walked in front of a beauty parlor specializing in fishie pedicures: they have fish tanks where you put your feet and the fish eat the calluses off. I pointed it to her and explained it, and again she exclaimed “the old woman didn’t want to die, because every day she learned something new!” 😃 For some reason she found it noteworthy that the fishies in question are gray-black and not brightly colored.